Brothers stifle Raiders

Weaver came up big again in the third quarter " this time on offense. O'Brien threw a sideline pass that Weaver leapt and caught in bounds. The senior then eluded two Colonie defenders and raced down the sideline for a 40-yard touchdown that gave the Brothers a 12-point cushion.

"We practiced that (play)," said Weaver. "It got up to me, I broke a tackle, broke another and scored."

Colonie got into more trouble with Furbeck's fumbles, which gave CBA prime field position. But the Garnet Raiders defense stepped up and made key plays to keep the Brothers from scoring.

Colonie couldn't dodge all the bullets, though. Late in the fourth quarter, Duff threw a deep pass that Chaires stepped in front of and intercepted. Chaires eluded several tackles before being stopped inside Colonie's 10-yard line. Four plays later, Joe Zappone scored on a 3-yard run to seal the victory.

"I didn't feel comfortable, even with three minutes left in the game," said Smith.

Zappone rushed for 125 yards, and O'Brien completed five of eight passes for 86 yards for CBA, which is on its longest winning streak of the season.

"Their running backs did a great job, and their (offensive) line did a great job," said Ambrosio.

Furbeck gained 106 yards on 16 carries, and Duff threw for 109 yards for Colonie. However, Duff completed only 10-of-32 passes, and Furbeck was the only effective running back the Garnet Raiders had that night.

"They took away our running game. We were unable to get anything going," said Ambrosio.

"They try to do what they're best at " they try to get you out to the perimeter, and then they try to run up the middle," said Smith. "We did a good job of stopping them on the perimeter."

Colonie finishes as the Sectional runner-up for the second time in four years. The Garnet Raiders lost to Shenendehowa in the 2002 Super Bowl.""